Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-31

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

News stories on TV and in newspapers are very often accompanied by pictures.

Some people say that these pictures are more effective than words.

What is your opinion about this?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

It has been seen that news stories on TV and newspapers are used visuals frequently to accompany their news. Some people thought that this kind of pictures are more effective than words. I think news with visuals are more easier to understand than only words.

There are a number of reason why people find news accompanied by pictures are understandable than words. Firstly, visuals give a proper senerio of any incident if the picture is captured in exact frame. For example, if any news describes a problem of any place with exact scene, people can understand the actual situation of that place by seeing the picture.

Secondly, using pictures with news reduces the struggle of searching appropriate words. It is actually effective for both news presenters and audiences. News presenters can short their words by presenting visuls and audiences can decrease their struggle with understanding words by seeing pictures.

Moreover, for illiterate people, visual representation of news is the most effective way to understand the news stories. They can simply see the pictures of any incident and can understand the news if the visual captured in exact frame.

However, the visuls only reduces the word limit of any news but not replace the words. Still news stories need a huge range of words though they have pictures because words are our primary way of expressing things. So news with visuals are more easier to understand than only words.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you believe pictures make news easier to understand, while also noting that they cannot replace words. The reasons about showing an incident’s scene and helping people who cannot read are relevant to the question. However, the response only partly develops the comparison with words: the point that pictures reduce the need for explanation is asserted rather than supported with a specific example, and the final qualification is brief. The example about a picture of a place remains general, so the reader does not see a particular situation or its effect. The response is also 12 words below the required minimum. Add a developed real or hypothetical example and explain more precisely when words or images are more effective.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: an introduction states your view, the body gives reasons, and the final paragraph qualifies your position. Paragraphing is appropriate, and signposts such as “Firstly,” “Secondly,” “Moreover,” and “However” make the sequence easy to follow. This meets the lower-band expectation of clear overall organisation and shows some flexibility in progression. To strengthen cohesion further, avoid repeating the same conclusion in the opening and final sentence, and make links between claims more explicit. For example, the paragraph about illiterate audiences repeats the earlier point about understanding pictures; it could instead explain how this benefit differs from the practical advantages for presenters and other viewers.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use a small range of topic-related vocabulary, including “visual representation,” “audiences,” and “primary way of expressing things,” and the main ideas remain understandable. However, noticeable word-choice, collocation, word-form, and spelling problems limit precision. Examples include “proper senerio,” “short their words,” “visuls,” and “exact frame”; these make some phrases awkward or unclear. “Struggle” is also repeated in the second body paragraph, and “pictures” and “news” recur frequently. Build a more accurate set of expressions for describing images and communication, and check spelling and collocations. For instance, “presenters can short their words” could be expressed as “presenters can use fewer words,” which is clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional clauses such as “if the picture is captured…” and a contrast introduced by “However.” The central meaning is generally recoverable, but errors in agreement, articles, comparatives, and sentence construction occur often enough to affect accuracy. For example, “this kind of pictures are” has a mismatch between the singular phrase and plural noun, while “news with visuals are more easier” has agreement and comparative-form problems. In “There are a number of reason,” the plural noun form is needed. Practise checking subject–verb agreement and forming comparisons, and revise each sentence for a clear subject and verb. More accurate control of these patterns would make your ideas easier to read.

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